Posts by worldrelief
We need equity and justice in vaccine distribution. The church can help.
Image: AP Photo / Marta Lavandier
By Myal Greene, Lanre Williams-Ayedun
Though we in the United States seem to be on the downslope of the latest surge of COVID-19, many countries are still in the thick of the fight against the omicron variant. Scientists warn that another variant could send our numbers back up at any time. So far, we know of only one good answer: vaccines.
7 Ways to Love Your Neighbor
In Rwanda we have a saying — “Ifuni ibagara ubucuti ni akarenge.” This literally means, “a hoe that cultivates friendship is a foot.” In other words, we love our neighbor by visiting them and helping if they need anything.
No matter where you live, loving your neighbor is an integral part of our call as Christians. Having served alongside local churches in Memphis and Rwanda, we have seen first-hand how loving your neighbor comes in all shapes and sizes.
In some places, loving your neighbor might mean sharing baked goods. In another, it may mean dropping by unannounced for an afternoon tea. And still, for others it could mean fetching water or making bricks for a neighbor who is building a house. Yet, no matter where you live, one thing remains the same: We love because God first loved us. That’s why today, we’re sharing 7 Ways to Love Your Neighbor.
1. Take the Initiative and Value Small Acts of Kindness
Helping one another without being asked to do so is part of the culture in Rwanda. And doing something for your neighbor does not always require much. If your neighbor is sick, you could visit them, deliver groceries to them or take them to the doctor when necessary.
In rural Africa, if a neighbor is building a house, you could lend a hand by fetching water for them, making bricks or finding wood. In short, loving your neighbor is in action more than words.
2. Spend time
Quality time is said to be one of the five major ways people experience love. That’s true no matter who you are or where you’re from. When refugee families first arrive in the U.S., many often feel isolated with no family, no community and no means of transportation. Even if there is a language barrier, the simple act of spending time with our neighbors can make a world of difference. Whether you pop in for a tea or a walk, just knowing that someone cares and that they are not alone allows refugee families to feel the love of Christ through our actions.
3. Share a meal
Sharing a meal is perhaps one of the best ways to show our love for our neighbors. Whether it’s at your home or theirs, breaking bread together meets not only a physical need but also the mental and spiritual need for relationship.
No matter where you live, meals are an opportunity to connect, sharing our own culture while experiencing someone else’s. Especially for many refugees rebuilding their lives in the U.S., sharing a meal also demonstrates respect and interest in their life and culture, something that may often be overlooked in their new home.
4. Foster Reconciliation
Loving your neighbor can encompass more than lending a hand. It’s also reconciling relationships. In some Rwandan communities, church members often disregarded people from other denominations, sometimes to the point of viewing them as non-believers and refusing to work together.
After being trained by World Relief, church leaders, volunteers and program participants are reaching across denominational lines to adopt a culture of loving their neighbor by acting together. They’ve realized that together, as a unified body, they can accomplish much more, and they’re seeing ripple effects of love, joy, peace and harmony across whole communities.
Ask yourself — is there someone I can love by moving toward reconciliation and forgiveness? Is there someone I disagree with politically or denominationally that I can build a connection and a friendship with?
5. Listen
Paying close attention and listening to what your neighbors are saying is so important. We may have had very different upbringings and viewpoints, but we are all made in the image of God, and each of us has a story to tell. By listening to that story, we’ll learn new ways in which we can be intentional with our neighbors, showing them that they are welcomed and loved.
6. Advocate
While loving our neighbors on an interpersonal level is who we are called by Christ to be, sometimes systemic injustice is at the root of a problem, and loving our neighbor means advocating with them as well.
Advocacy is speaking up with those who are vulnerable to address the underlying causes of injustice by influencing the policies and practices of people in power. By starting with the reality of “what is,” we can leverage our voices to make systemic changes that lead to a vision of “what should be.”
7. Go Together
At World Relief, we believe we can accomplish so much more when we go together. In the U.S., our church partners form Good Neighbor Teams who work together to welcome and serve their new immigrant neighbors by taking them to appointments, picking up groceries or fostering friendships over lunch or dinner.
In places like Rwanda and Haiti, Outreach Group volunteers pair up to visit the homes of struggling families. Outreach Groups give local churches the opportunity to intentionally engage the community in a consistent way at a wide scale. Ordinary church members are equipped to do what Jesus taught and did — reaching out to their neighbors to share messages that lead to holistic development and facilitate relationships.
If you’re considering reaching out to a neighbor or participating in a service project, why not ask someone to join you, so this movement of love can grow further?
Living justly and loving our neighbor is better when we do it together. Share this article with a friend and invite them to join you in loving your neighbors this week.
Bailey Clark serves as the Communications Coordinator for World Relief Memphis. With a background in journalism and advertising, she is passionate about storytelling and its power to make a difference.
A pioneer in the documentation space, Emily Kankindi is the communications and documentation unit coordinator at World Relief in Rwanda. She started with World Relief in 2005 and has been growing through different stages while pursuing a career in creative communications with a passion to tell the story of impact. Driven by a mission to serve the most vulnerable, Emily is best known for inspiring others to care and serve the needy by using all possible means of communication to promote and call forth positive ramifications of WR interventions in all aspects of life. Her educational background is marketing and travel operations.
Welcoming the Welcomers: One Afghan’s Journey to the U.S.
As World Relief continues to resettle Afghans who were evacuated from Afghanistan, we are reminded that resettlement often comes with both grief and gratitude.
For Afghans like David, resettling in North Texas has been an immense gift of safety, security and community. And yet, he feels the heartache of leaving his home and extended family behind. We are grateful to David for sharing his story with us today.
A Culture of Hospitality
“The most important thing to know about Afghans is, whenever a guest comes to our house, we’re happy for it,” David said. “We say that guest is not only our guest, it’s God’s guest that came to our house.”
David had just finished assisting the World Relief North Texas (WRNT) team with a cultural orientation for Afghans who had recently resettled in the area.
As an Afghan and newly arrived immigrant himself, his knowledge of both Afghan and American culture had quickly become a vital asset to the North Texas team in welcoming the influx of Afghan refugees who were arriving.
“I did work for the Americans for 19 years straight,” he said. “I know most of the cultures and how things work because if you work with someone from their country for 19 years, you get to hear a lot of stuff and you get to share your experience with them.”
The Day Life Changed
David, along with his wife and three children, was one of the 53,000 Afghans who were evacuated out of Kabul when it fell to the Taliban in August.
Growing up in Afghanistan, David’s father worked as a soldier for the Afghan special forces in Kandahar. Two of his brothers also worked for the coalition forces, and in 2002, shortly after the U.S. launched an attack against the Taliban, David began working with the U.S.
State Department as a translator.
The day the Taliban took Kabul, David was at work, and life changed dramatically for him.
“I had friends in town,” he said. “They called me that day and said, ‘You heard Taliban is in the city? People are running left and right and they’re just scared and don’t know what’s going to happen after this.’”
When he got off the phone with his friend, he quickly went to his supervisor and informed them of what was happening. At first, no one believed him. They thought it was impossible for the Taliban to take over so quickly, and while David agreed that it seemed unbelievable, the truth soon became clear.
The Rush to Get Out
Over the next three days, David and his colleagues — Afghan and American alike — worked tirelessly to get rid of as much ammunition and military equipment as they could so as not to leave it in the hands of the Taliban. On the fourth day of his shift, though, David was told to go home, get his family and bring them back.
“They told me, ‘bring your kids, wife, that we need to evacuate you guys as soon as possible from Kabul,’” David said. “I asked them, ‘what about my other family? Like my mother or my brother?’
“They said, right now the only thing they could do is me and my wife and kids. They said they could get the rest of my family in the future, but right now, I needed to bring my wife and kids back to the base.”
David left work and drove back to his house. When he arrived, he and his wife packed everything they could into two bags.
“I had only three hours to prepare and we took all the necessary stuff that we needed from the house and made two bags and brought it with us,” he said.
When David and his family returned to the military base, they boarded a plane and left Afghanistan. Though they were now physically safe, the life they knew had been left behind.
Journeying to the U.S.
Over the next few days, David and his family made an exhausting journey across the globe. They spent one night in Qatar before flying to Germany where they stayed on a U.S. military base for seven days. David said that living conditions on the base were not great, but that he didn’t blame anyone for the poor conditions. How could he when no one ever expected to have to house so many people with such short notice?
From Germany, David flew to D.C. where he and his family went through customs and border security before finally landing in El Paso, Texas where they would live on another U.S. military base for 30 days.
The two bags they had packed, however, didn’t make it.
“When we got to Qatar, they took our bags,” David said. “They said the first priority was to get us out from here, and then it’s the bags… For 20 days, we had to wear the same clothes and after 20 days, we finally got to take a shower and change clothes. They took our bags and I still haven’t received them.”
While living conditions in El Paso were better than they were in Germany, life was still difficult. David and the other Afghans had to sleep in tents and wait in hours-long lines to get their food each day.
“I don’t blame them because in the camp where we were it was more than 10,000 people,” David said. “It’s not easy to give food to 10,000 people, three times a day, breakfast, lunch, dinner.”
Each morning, David and several other Afghans would meet with leaders at the U.S. military base hoping for some update as to when they would be released from the base and resettled in a new home.
“We were not hearing good news,” David said. “All we were hearing was that we would have to stay here for longer and longer.”
His young kids were becoming restless, often wishing they had stayed in Afghanistan, believing that life was better there. While David tried to comfort them, he too was becoming impatient with living in a tent on a military base.
Eventually, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
Beginning Again
Prior to the fall of Kabul, a few of David’s friends and family had been resettled by World Relief North Texas. It was through those friends that David heard about World Relief.
“I called [my friend] and said, ‘Please talk to Jonathan (WRNT Program Manager). If it’s possible to get out from this camp…I don’t want to wait. It’s taking too long.’”
David began making arrangements to leave the military base. He got copies of the necessary paperwork and medical records, booked plane tickets for his family, and left El Paso for Fort Worth. They spent their first night in Fort Worth at David’s cousin’s house, but the following day, Jonathan called David to say that an apartment was ready for them.
“He got the apartment ready in two days. It was amazing,” David said. “I couldn’t believe they helped us so much. They brought food, furnitures, beds for the kids, everything. Everything was in the house like a family living already.”
David said that walking into the house was like taking a deep breath. His children were thrilled and immediately began asking about when they could go to school.
Over the next few days, World Relief caseworkers helped get David’s kids enrolled in school. David’s wife purchased fabric and began sewing herself new dresses since their bags remained lost. David began volunteering with World Relief, acting as a translator and liaison with new Afghans as they arrive in North Texas.
“I told Jonathan the other day if he needs help as a culture-wise, I know more about Afghans, how to provide good relations, and help and stuff. I’m always ready to help them.”
While David and his family are working hard to settle into life in the U.S. — applying for social security, getting a drivers license and working with World Relief to get their SIV case approved — the toll of the last few months still weighs on them and the other Afghans in their community.
“What we are requesting from you guys to just please be patient… Most of our people have done or have been through a lot of difficulties in Afghanistan and have given a lot of sacrifices when the U.S. military was in Afghanistan. Most of the people lost their brothers, their father, their families in what was going on in Afghanistan.”
You Can Help
Many Afghans, including David, still have family in Afghanistan who are trying to get out. They wait urgently for an update, and we wait and pray with them.
As World Relief works alongside the U.S. government to continue resettling Afghans like David, you can help. You can:
Pray: Pray for David, his family and others like them as they build a new life in the U.S. Pray also for the Afghan allies and civilians who are still seeking safety. Pray for World Relief Resettlement Staff as they work tirelessly to receive refugees as they arrive.
Advocate: Call on Congress to do everything in their power to evacuate as many as possible and resettle Afghan refugees. Together, we can stand with those who are suffering and influence our nation’s leaders to help vulnerable people around the world and in the U.S.
Give: You can respond to urgent crises, welcome immigrants like David and promote peace and justice across the globe by giving to World Relief today.
It takes all of us to build communities of love and welcome that we all feel proud to be a part of. Thank you for moving with us.
Rachel Clair is a Content Manager at World Relief. Alongside an amazing team of marketing colleagues, she manages the curation and creation of written and multi-media content for World Relief’s global platforms. With more than 10 years of experience creating content for churches and non-profits, she is passionate about developing stories that challenge individuals and communities to lean into all of whom God created them to be. She holds a BFA from Stephens College and is currently pursuing a certificate in a Spiritual Formation at the Transforming Center in Wheaton, IL.
Early Childhood Development Centers Help Care for the Caregivers
The first five years of a child’s life provide critical building blocks for lifelong development. Young children thrive when they receive intentional early learning opportunities and have parents who are equipped to care for them through responsive and playful parenting. However, for many families facing adversity, their child’s development may be hindered when one or more of their core needs are unmet.
At World Relief, we believe that local communities can come together to support caregivers in child rearing so their children can reach their full potential — caregivers like Caritas.
Caritas is an elderly blind woman who lives in Burundi. She had never been married or had biological children of her own, but when her two-year-old nephew was abandoned by his parents, she didn’t hesitate to welcome him into her small home.
However, her blindness made caring for her nephew a challenge. Caritas was always asking for help from her neighbors, and her church took notice.
Caritas lives in one of World Relief Burundi’s Church Empowerment Zones (CEZ). World Relief’s CEZ model of community development is unique and powerful, focusing on existing community assets rather than deficits. Partnering with local churches around the world, we prioritize local partnership and ownership, leadership development and capacity building so that local churches like Caritas’ can be the initiators and drivers of transformation in their own communities.
After being trained by World Relief, Caritas’ church hosted a community mobilization meeting about early childhood development. Church members decided to create a community-based Early Childhood Development (ECD) Center to meet the needs of parents and young children in their community.
Since demand for early childhood programming was high and capacity at the center was limited, church members decided to prioritize the most vulnerable children. Caritas and her nephew were identified as a family with significant need, so her nephew was admitted to the center.
After struggling to care for her nephew on her own, Caritas felt relieved to have a place where her child could benefit from the care and support of good people that she could trust. At the ECD center, he would have the opportunity to learn and grow through play.
“My child is not only protected, but he is more educated and surprises me in his development,” said Caritas. “He is no longer the poor child abandoned by his parents, but he has got a big family.”
Through community-based ECD centers like these, Caritas and hundreds of caregivers are seeing their children grow and flourish as they come together to ensure the most vulnerable children in their communities are given opportunities to develop and grow in safe spaces, full of joy, learning and playing!
Dana Pair currently serves as Program Officer at World Relief. Prior to joining World Relief, she worked in adolescent girls programming in the Portland, Oregon area. She is passionate about empowering women and girls to bring sustainable change to their communities.
10 Ways We’re Bringing Hope, Healing and Transformation in 2022
Across the globe, extreme poverty and mass displacement are on the rise, aggravated by the ongoing COVID pandemic. We’re currently facing the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time. And yet, there is hope. God is moving, and you’re invited to move too. Together, we’re bringing hope, healing and transformation to 2022.
As Myal Greene, World Relief President and CEO, recently said, “We have the opportunity to respond together as God’s church… Across the globe, men and women just like you are rising up to meet the needs of the most vulnerable among them.”
No one of us can carry the world’s burdens on our own. But when we move together, anything is possible. Will you join us?
In Burundi, we will expand our Sunday school and child protection programming in the Gitega region through 60 local churches, reaching 3,600 children in Sunday school and educating 120 church leaders on child protection.
In Cambodia, we will double the number of church networks with which we partner as we continue discipling home churches about God’s call to holistically love and serve the vulnerable.
In DR Congo, we will respond to the needs of over 125,000 vulnerable families returning from conflict in Tanganyika Province.
In Haiti, we will launch a youth empowerment agriculture-business program in the Belle Anse region.
In Kenya, we will launch our first child protection programming in the country.
In Malawi, we will mainstream our disability inclusion programming into all our work country-wide.
In Rwanda, we will expand our programming into a new region, the Gisagara District, as well as expand and scale our disability inclusion programming.
In South Sudan, we will expand our peace and reconciliation program to four additional counties located within a conflict prone region.
In Sudan, we will reach over 1.5 million people with a focus on those with special needs and others who have been neglected.
In the U.S, we will engage 1,000 church partners and 10,000 volunteers as we welcome 9,500 refugees and other immigrants into our local communities.
In faith, we’re expecting God to move greatly, even miraculously, this year. Stay informed about how God is moving through World Relief by signing up for our monthly newsletter below. Thank you for moving with us!
Kelly Hill serves as a Content Writer at World Relief. She previously served as Volunteer Services Manager at World Relief Triad in North Carolina before moving to Salt Lake City. With a background in International and Intercultural Communication, she is passionate about the power of story to connect people of diverse experiences.
From Sandwich Artist to CEO: Get to Know Myal Greene
On July 20, 2021, Myal Greene was named President and CEO of World Relief. Myal has been with World Relief for 14 years and previously directed our ministry operations in Rwanda and Africa. In his most recent role as Senior Vice President of International Programs, Myal was instrumental in increasing support for our international programming and more than doubling our global reach in the past two years. We’re excited for you to get to know him a little better.
Myal, to know you is to know two things: Your love for Jesus and the mission of World Relief, and your love for your family. We’ll talk a bit more in-depth about your vision for World Relief, but first, would you mind introducing your family to us?
Myal Greene: Absolutely. I met my wife, Sharon, while I was living in Rwanda. She is Rwandan and was a co-founder of the young adult fellowship group I used to attend. We’ve been married for 10 years and have three children. Since having kids I have become a bit of a homebody and love to spend my downtime hanging out with my family. In this current season, that means watching Dude Perfect and playing catch with my boys or having tea parties with my daughter.
Can you tell everybody how you came to World Relief?
Myal Greene: Very early on in my Christian faith, the interconnectedness of Christ and his love for the poor was just very evident to me. I would read all of the books of the Bible through a justice lens. I read books like Ron Sider’s “Rich Christians in the Age of Hunger,” which is still a classic more than 40 years after it was first published.
After college, I began working on Capitol Hill and became active in the young adult ministry at my church. While attending an Urbana Conference with that group, I heard two amazing speakers from World Relief talk about the HIV crisis in Africa and how the church was responding to it. That was the first time I heard about World Relief. Then I found out from my Mission’s pastor that our church had just signed a partnership with World Relief.
Next thing you know, I’m looking at jobs at World Relief. I was offered a job in Rwanda where I held a few posts. I was eventually promoted to serve as the Country Director for Rwanda before moving back to the U.S. to head up our International Programs Division.
What values guide your decisions as a leader?
Myal Greene: You know, not to sound cliché, but I really like to take a biblical perspective and look for leadership examples in scripture. When I teach and preach, I tend to use narrative theology, breaking down a particular story, putting it in context and finding the example in the story.
I also try to be a consensus builder. Any good leader knows you can’t make everybody happy with every decision, but you at least want to help people understand why you made a particular decision and hopefully build support even if it’s not something they agree with.
I also value the power of teams. Our faith calls us to serve in community with others. A key part of leadership is casting a vision for people and ensuring that everyone understands where we are going and what their role is in helping us get there.
How has your time at World Relief impacted your faith, and what has God revealed to you about himself through this work.
Myal Greene: That’s a great question. I think it’s really linked to living in Africa for eight and a half years where I repeatedly saw the blessings and the equipping of the Holy Spirit in all the situations we faced. When I returned to the U.S., I came back with a much more charismatic faith. I’m never shy in my requests to God in prayer! I also think that by working with so many churches and Christians from cultures other than my own, I have come to see the body of believers as God’s chosen means to restore this world. When we are gathered around the risen Jesus and committed to His work of reconciliation and restoration, we can do powerful things.
You’ve been at World Relief for 14 years. How would you say that World Relief has evolved over that time and how would you like to see it continue to evolve over the next 14 years?
Myal Greene: I think our commitment to empowering the church is a lot clearer now than it was years ago. For me, that’s really crucial. From where I sit, I see the organization poised for massive growth in the coming years.
On the international front, we plan to continue the expansion of our work in Africa, Cambodia and Haiti. We’re also responding to the increase in refugee arrivals in the U.S. from places like Afghanistan among others. We’re rapidly increasing our scale, considering partnership opportunities and opening new offices to meet this need.
We also recently completed a strategic planning refresh which we’re getting ready to roll out. Through this collaborative work, we sought to emphasize our shared identity in Christ and foster greater diversity, equity and inclusion within the organization and across our programs.
I’m excited to continue making World Relief a world-class workplace where people can bring their whole selves to work and contribute to an innovative culture. I’m proud of what God has created this organization to be and am incredibly humbled to have the privilege of leading our efforts.
OK, let’s end on a fun note. What is one thing most people don’t know about you?
Myal Greene: So, I used to dig graves.
This sounds like a fabulous story. Please elaborate!
Myal Greene: After high school, my first summer job was as a “Sandwich Artist” at Subway. I hated standing inside all day behind a counter touching food. I told my dad that I wanted a job outside. And, you know, my dad had a friend from the Rotary Club who owned all the cemeteries in town. So, he got me a job, mostly cutting the grass, but at least twice a week we did an interment. Most of the digging gets done with a backhoe but they always made the college kid climb the ladder down to the bottom of the hole.
That’s amazing. I think we’ve found our title, “From Sandwich Artist to CEO…” Thanks so much for sitting down with us today, Myal!
Mary Milano served as the Director of Fundraising Content at World Relief from 2017-2022.
Expect A Miracle: Reimagining Our Lives in the New Year
Though the new year may be upon us, many of us are still moving through the immense amount of change we’ve experienced over the last two years. Today, Karen Gonzalez encourages us to see change as God’s vehicle for renewing and reimagining our lives.
We invite you to read or listen to Karen’s message below, then check out the entire Made for Change Audio Series, created to help you experience God’s presence in the midst of change. May you find the peace and presence of our good and loving God, the one who can do more than we could ever ask for or imagine.
Listen to the audio version of this blog post and find more audio meditations here.
Another Year of Change
When I was little, my grandmother sent me a card every year for my birthday. She would always write a special message inside, and then in the corner, in small, careful print she would write, “Jesus loves you and so do I. Expect a miracle.”
“Expect a miracle” were the words she lived by. They sustained her and reminded her that the Almighty would act in unexpected ways for her good and for God’s own glory.
Many of us can likely relate to my grandmother… 2020 – and subsequently 2021 — have been difficult years, in ways most of us could not have imagined: We faced a contentious election season, a global pandemic, racial unrest and economic turmoil.
We are grateful to say goodbye to the old, difficult year and welcome the potential this new one holds. We want to expect a miracle — something different but welcome, surprising but joyful. And so we come to this new year with expectation, with the assurance that God makes all things new, even us.
Change reimagines. It’s what God uses to reimagine our present circumstances and give us hope for a future beyond anything we could ever ask.
Naomi’s Story
I’ve been reflecting on the story of Naomi in the book of Ruth. For a woman whose name meant “pleasant,” Naomi led a life of suffering and grief. She experienced famine, forced migration, widowhood, the death of her sons, abject poverty and an uncertain future.
After the death of her children, Naomi returned home to Bethlehem for a new beginning in the company of her widowed daughter-in-law, Ruth.
But to Naomi, the future did not look bright. She knew that having a husband and sons was the only way to ensure her survival, the only means for a woman’s economic sustenance in her society. Without them, she could not imagine a life full of anything but poverty and despair.
The best Naomi could hope for were the provisions in God’s law, designed to care for poor people like her: gleaning the leftovers in the fields and vineyards.
She railed against God, bellowing that her name should have been bitter, not pleasant, because her life had been bitter, “The Lord has afflicted me,” she cried, “and brought misfortune upon me. I went away full but now I am empty.”
In a million years, Naomi could not have guessed that the terrible changes in her life would be God’s vehicle for reimagining her life. Though the pain and the loss would not be erased, they would be robbed of their sting because God would redeem and restore her life.
Naomi, a woman who thought that men — a husband and sons — were God’s only way of providing for her well-being, could never have imagined that a woman — her loyal daughter-in-law — would be the path through which she’d experience God’s faithfulness.
By the end of the story, Ruth had remarried and given birth to a son. Naomi gets to hold her grandson as part of a new family. She listens as her Bethlehem neighbors rejoice with her and proclaim, “your daughter-in-law who loves you is more to you than seven sons.”
Reimagining the Future
Today, we know that this grandson is in the lineage of Jesus. Naomi’s reimagined life connected her to the story of the salvation of all humankind. Change reimagines, not just Naomi’s life but yours and mine.
God worked in Naomi’s life through means that were entirely unexpected — like a phoenix, Naomi rose from the ashes of her scorched life. As the Psalmist says… Naomi got to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
We don’t know what will happen this new year, but we know who will be with us through it — our good and loving God, the one who can do more than we could ever ask for or imagine. Change is God’s vehicle to renew and reimagine our lives.
As the Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 3:20 & 21: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever!”
Friends, expect a miracle.
Karen Gonzalez serves as the Director of Human Services at World Relief and is the author of the new book The God Who Sees: Immigrants, the Bible and the Journey to Belong.
It’s Been a Hard Year. These 3 Charities Could Use Your Help.
Image: Matija Medved
by Tish Harrison Warren / New York Times
I confess that to me, Christmas shopping can feel mostly like another chore in a busy December. But I love to give gifts that make the world a better place. Years ago, I took up a practice of donating to worthy organizations in people’s names as a small addition to their material gift. Though I don?t do it every year, I really enjoy this kind of gift giving.
This year in particular, as the planet continues to be convulsed by the pandemic, the world needs an outpouring of generosity. New York Times Opinion invited its writers to celebrate nonprofits, NGOs or philanthropic efforts that they appreciate. This can help provide some direction and let you know about organizations that need support.
Welcoming Afghans in San Diego
Since August, World Relief has welcomed and resettled over 1,000 Afghans who had been evacuated out of Kabul. Today, over 34,000 Afghans remain on eight U.S. military bases awaiting their chance at a new life in the U.S. World Relief is diligently preparing to resettle up to 7,000 of these brave individuals between now and March 2022.
The need is great, and we couldn’t do this work without the help of partners like Hope for San Diego.Today, Susie Fikse, Executive Director at Hope for San Diego, talks about why partnering with World Relief is critical to Hope for San Diego’s mission. Read more to find out how you and your community can move with us, just like Susie and Hope for San Diego have done. Together, we can create communities of love and welcome that we all feel proud to be a part of.
First, can you tell us a little about Hope for San Diego?
Hope for San Diego is an independent non-profit with a mission to engage our community to care for and invest in our under-served neighbors. Our focus areas include refugees/ immigrants, sex trafficking, foster care and homelessness—all pressing issues in San Diego.
How did you first get connected with World Relief?
Twenty-five years ago, I was living in Atlanta. The church my family attended was involved with World Relief, and I signed up to bring Thanksgiving dinner to a refugee family. I remember standing at the door of this family’s small apartment. There were eight people living there. They had no furniture in the living room, but they welcomed me and my family and offered us drinks and fruit. We couldn’t really communicate because of the language barrier, but it was a really meaningful and eye-opening experience.
How did you help bring World Relief to San Diego?
Shortly after I took the job as Executive Director of Hope for San Diego, we began working with refugees in the area. Soon we realized that there were many organizations doing many different things for refugees — all of them great, but very uncoordinated.
For a long time, I felt the need for some kind of umbrella organization to help bring all our efforts together and to make sure the work we were doing was helping instead of hurting. I knew World Relief would be a great partner to bring us all together and help facilitate healthy ministry.
We connected with the World Relief SoCal office, and they did a few trainings with us and our church partners. But when the border crisis came to a head a couple of years ago, it became clear that we needed the expertise of World Relief in closer proximity to all these needs! It took some time to figure out how to make it work, but in March, we were able to fund the first full-time World Relief staff in San Diego, and a group of churches assembled to collaborate in building a more effective ministry to refugees.
Aside from funding, how else does Hope for San Diego partner with World Relief?
Our partner churches volunteer in different ways through the connections World Relief provides, whether that is building friendships with refugees, providing tangible support like furniture or shoes, or participating in tutoring programs.
We have also hosted World Relief speakers at educational events, which is a powerful way to help our community build a Biblical worldview of immigration. Likewise, we sent a select group of leaders on a Border Vision Trip, which opened eyes to the complexity of immigration issues facing people just 30 minutes from our homes.
How is Hope for San Diego specifically working to welcome and resettle Afghans in your community?
Thanks to the support of people within our eight partner churches and other community members, we were very quickly able to form two Good Neighbor Teams, mobilize volunteers to set up apartments and deliver groceries, secure 40 mattress donations and pre-paid phone cards, among so many other things. The immediate and continued response from the community has been encouraging.
We believe that relationships designed to support self-sufficiency are the key to long term transformation—both of the refugees and the volunteers that engage with them. Our goal is to create a minimum of 10 Good Neighbor Teams (4-5 people each) through our partnership with World Relief that will commit to building genuine, long-term friendships, helping refugee families orient to American life and create a future here.
We also believe another key element of welcoming refugees is educating our community about their plight and celebrating the diversity that they help create so in January, we’re hosting and event called “From Strangers to Neighbors.” Matt Soerens from World Relief will be there to speak and we’re eager for the ways this will engage and equip others in our community to respond.
Why is partnering with World Relief one of the things you’ve continued to hold onto?
The work of World Relief is more essential than ever before. The gaps between the affluent and the poor continue to widen and World Relief is helping to bridge those gaps. When I see a refugee family of nine living in a two-bedroom apartment and six kids trying to do online school while their parents are working two jobs, I know that we need to come alongside these families to provide support. Without organizations like World Relief, these kids are going to fall further behind, which has long-term consequences for all of us.
What is your vision for the Church in San Diego, and how do you see World Relief playing a role in that vision?
Our vision is to see God renew San Diego so that even people in the most vulnerable situations can thrive. Our city is not experiencing shalom in the way God intended unless all people are thriving, not just those within our churches. The Church is the vehicle God wants to use to bring renewal and hope to our city. But that means we have to step outside the church and outside our comfort zone to build relationships. In order to do that, we need the right opportunities and the right training. World Relief provides that for us.
We are so grateful for partners like Susie and Hope for San Diego who remind us that when we move together, we can be an irresistible force for good and an agent of lasting change. Help create communities of love and welcome this season by moving with us and giving today.
Rachel Clair serves as a Content Writer at World Relief. With a background in creative writing and children’s ministry, she is passionate about helping people of all ages think creatively and love God with their hearts, souls and minds.
Resettled: One Woman’s Journey Beyond Rebuilding
As the number of refugees arriving in the U.S. continues to increase in the coming months, we invite you to partner with us as we welcome them. Today, we’re excited to give you a glimpse at the lasting change that can happen when we move together.
A Crossing of Paths
At World Relief, we’re honored to walk alongside refugees and immigrants from around the world as they rebuild their lives in the U.S. Sharing their stories with you is a privilege. Often though, the stories we share are limited to a short and intense part of people’s lives.
Years later, you may wonder along with us, “How is that family doing now?” I never expected to get an answer to this question when I moved from North Carolina, where I worked at World Relief Triad, to Utah. But that’s exactly what happened.
Two weeks after moving, I bought a plant on Facebook marketplace from a woman named Buthainah. It didn’t take long for us to realize our shared connection: she had been resettled by World Relief Triad in 2009. Hearing her story reminded me of the lasting impact we can have when we move together. Buthainah eagerly agreed to share her story with us today.
When Everything Changes
Buthainah grew up in Baghdad, Iraq. Although the country was tightly controlled by Sadam Husain’s regime, she remembers having a happy childhood.
Her father worked as a major general at the naval academy, and her mother was an architect. Buthainah did well in school. She was a child of imagination — drawing, reading and writing stories in which she was the heroine. “Life was simple for us kids and family,” she said, “we were happy and content!”
But then war broke out, and everything changed. At 13, Buthainah fled with her parents and four sisters to Jordan. Two and a half years later, they were selected for resettlement in the U.S.
Flying to the U.S. was stressful. As a family of seven, they struggled through the airport with two suitcases each. Buthainah remembers bringing clothes, drawings and a memory book from elementary school with notes from her friends and teachers. “I’m a very sentimental person. [They’re] silly things, but they hold a lot of value for me.”
Buthainah’s family arrived on June 25, 2009. From geography to environment to culture, Buthainah was immersed in a world of difference. And a world where she, herself, was labeled as different.
“You have your life, and all of a sudden, it’s taken away from you,” she said. “And then you are labeled as a refugee, not who you are. It makes you feel unseen and it diminishes your value… or at least it did for me.”
Someone to Walk With
But someone did see Buthainah and her family — former World Relief Case Manager, Brian Boggs. “Brian was one of the very few people early on to really understand us,” Buthainah remembers. “He spent time to explain the system to us.”
Brian drove the family to appointments and made sure the kids were enrolled in school. He helped them navigate their new home, finding grocery stores and bus routes.
“[Case management is] basically like helping somebody start their life over in a new place,” Brian explained. “If you think about all the basics people just take for granted — children going to school, parents, if they need it, getting English classes — you’re trying to guide people in a way that will help them be successful later on.”
In the midst of hectic transitions and changes, Buthainah remembers that Brian was there for her family when they needed him most. “He was a stranger to us, [but he] made it easier to feel people cared and saw us for who we were, not just another number or another person who is going to be a burden.”
Life After Resettlement
With Brian’s help, Buthainah’s family adjusted to their new lives in America. The girls settled in at school and their parents found work. Their lives were being rebuilt. Eventually, Brian became busy caring for more recent arrivals, and Buthainah and her family transitioned out of World Relief programs, pursuing new dreams of their own.
Buthaina’s parents both went back to school for master’s degrees and then PhDs in computational science. Her mom is now working as an energy analyst and her dad is retired.
One sister is completing her residency in Delaware. Another is working as a paralegal and plans to go to law school. The third is in college, and the youngest, who was only five when they were resettled in the Triad, is hoping to finish high school in just three years.
As for Buthainah, she graduated high school with excellent grades, went to college, and worked as a process chemist at a pharmaceutical company. She then decided to attend graduate school in Utah.
Today, she’s moved back to Greensboro to be closer to family and has successfully completed a PhD in organometallic chemistry. She’s now dreaming of starting her own business and maybe even a reform movement.
“Like reform of education and reform of the way we think,’ Buthainah said. She wants to help people understand the many ways we can learn and approach life. “Exactly how I’m going to get there?” she laughed, “I don’t know — but I have faith that it will all work out.”
When We Move Together
Twelve years later, Buthainah’s had time to think about her experience of resettlement. When asked what she would say to her younger self, she said, “Just know who you are. Be true to who you are, and don’t be ashamed of where you come from.”
She also had some advice for those welcoming refugees now. “You have a choice to judge another human being and make them less than you or not,” she said. “We’re very thankful to the people who really gave us a chance and gave us a start.” People like Brian.
When Buthainah and Brian recently reconnected, she told him, “You made us feel seen and you made us feel like we’re humans and we have equal chance. Because of that, we were able to believe in ourselves. It just takes some people sometimes to have that faith in you at your lowest when you doubt yourself.”
But Brian is reluctant to take credit.
“When you know people who are going through some of the hardest things not only that they’ve been through, but maybe all of humanity could go through,” he said, “you see potential. I don’t take credit for any of it… [Buthainah’s family] worked hard and believed in themselves. It’s theirs. It’s really nice to be invited into their journey.”
For refugees, the road to rebuilding their lives is long. You can help Pave the Path for more families like Buthainah’s by joining our community of monthly givers who are committed to helping refugees and immigrants thrive today, tomorrow and long into the future. Will you join us in building lasting communities of welcome?
Kelly Hill serves as a Content Writer at World Relief. She previously served as Volunteer Services Manager at World Relief Triad in North Carolina before moving to Salt Lake City. With a background in International and Intercultural Communication, she is passionate about the power of story to connect people of diverse experiences.
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